Scott’s post hit the nail on the head re: risk and I think it indicates a difference in where we were at the time. Scott was/is in the high end market, and I along with the vast majority of Pokemon fans pre-2016ish were in the “low” end. Spending $100 on a card was considered a huge purchase. Spending four figures was insane. Yeeting 10 grand into the Yahoo Japan abyss on an Illustrator had people questioning if you should be institutionalized.
In that market, the high-end stuff was super risky because it wasn’t established. You had no idea if the next big trophy would go for what you paid or not. Often you were setting a record price for a card with no indication of whether it would maintain that price or crash. Information about trophies/high end stuff was limited. The market for English worlds trophies literally was David Persin, Scott, and Dan.
When I started collecting, as long as you followed a few simple rules, i.e. don’t buy new set releases on day 1, don’t buy the first PSA 10, wait for auctions as opposed to BIN listings, don’t buy super playable cards for big prices…you could engage with the low end of the hobby with minimal risk as it was much more established.
Literally everything I collect/want to collect have gone up 10,000%-180,000% over the last decade
The norwegian krone has lost 40% of its value to The US dollar
Cryptocurrency/social media hypemonsters didn’t exist and now they do, flooding the market with new money billionaires toying with the entire hobby
Item availability is down 99,9%, the number of speculators is up 99,9% (with some hobbyists thrown on top of it)
Despite popular belief, being in your late 20s/early 30s doesn’t automatically equate to being rich
Worldwide pandemic with the longest, most all-permeating phase-1 hyperinflation in human history just happened
Buyers premiums, increased fees, less writing down due to insurance, more trouble with insurance, more packages being searched, more forgeries, more scammers, in general just more of everything bad and less of everything good
It’s much easier for people who were tru collectors before 2020 because even a mid-sized collection from a few years ago is worth 5-6 figures today. You can pretty much get any card (except high-end stuff) by selling a small fraction of your collection which probably has multiple copies of the same card anyway.
I feel bad for those that are starting now, they are looking at a whole week’s salary to get a decent card like a PSA 9 Neo Espeon. In my experience the average normie outside of the collector world thinks it’s insane that anyone would even pay $50 for one card, yet in the future I think some people will be looking at 1 month+ wages to buy back their favourite childhood card in PSA 9
Well my goals two years ago included all ungraded cards that I’d later grade. Now my plan is only graded cards. So I’m one of the people spending money out of every two week check to get 1 PSA 9 or save up from two checks for anything a grand plus. I’ve been selling off every ungraded card I have because I no longer feel like waiting for PSA to have regular pricing again. Plus my focus changed from wanting every era and set of all the best cards to just wanting complete PSA 9 graded sets. Trust me it gets pricey. I don’t even want to know how much I spent this year alone. But it makes me happy completing collection goals so that’s what I’m always striving to do.
In general, buying at auction pricing and selling at a retail premium has worked for me. I havnt been collecting for too long but if I had to start over, I would buy everything at auction until I needed the last 20% of cards or so, and then consider retail sellers to fill gaps. But that is the opinion of a set collector.
As someone that did just start recently, I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal. People get hung up on price memory like “I could’ve bought XYZ for so much less 10 years ago” instead of accepting the reality of where the market is today and deciding if a card is worth the price or not.
Using your example of Neo Espeon - if a 9 is too expensive, there are 6s and 7s available that present just about as well. If 1st edition English is too expensive, there’s unlimited and Japanese. If someone likes Espeon, there are cheaper options available. If someone likes Nishida’s art style, there are cheaper options available. If someone likes the Neo era, there are cheaper options available.
There are still plenty of options in the hobby to to scale to any budget. There are tons of cards that I will never be able to afford, and that’s okay.
The biggest change to my approach is accepting the fact that the trophy cards I need for my collection (Espeon and Umbreon PLAY) are no longer financially obtainable. Looking at sales of pre-covid prices, I could have made that price point work. I made the mistake of not buying the expensive cards years ago when I could have, and only bought cards if they were under $100 pre-covid.
I’ve simply switched to buying 9’s and only buying 10’s when the price is right because I can’t be bothered paying the premium for 10’s when a large number of 10’s look like 9’s.
It was also important for me to become more realistic about everything and my goals. My favorite card of all time is the gold star rayquaza, but even a PSA 5 or 6 costs far more than I would ever want to pay for that card. So I no longer search/actively want that card but it sits in the back of my mind still hoping that someday prices will be better again.
I have seen several PSA 9 cards that were in better condition than some PSA 10 cards. This is especially true when looking at old PSA labels vs the current PSA labels. At the end of the day, a very tiny white dot in a corner that can only be seen at a certain angle making it a 9 is well worth the reduced price for picking up a 9 vs a 10.
I’d really try to figure out managing to get it if it is your dream card. You could either sell parts of your collection you could get back later to better afford it or settle for a more damaged version of the card. Skyridge is my favorite set but that charizard is really expensive, about as expensive as your gold star rayquaza. I know I absolutely want to complete the skyridge set so I settled for a heavily played copy of the card that I could afford. It’d be nice to have a nicer condition of the card but having a beat up copy is better than no copy at all.
@wooltchi I happen to want a Skyridge PSA 9 Holo Crystal Zard. Now that’s going to be expensive but I’ll save up from my job and selling off ungraded cards and eventually make it happen some months down the line. I’d like the gold star Rayquaza you guys were talking about as well but that one seems pretty difficult. Maybe I’ll go for it eventually but I have more important goals I’m finishing up
I’m honestly having more fun than ever! As much as I will fall victim to the “ah, I should have bought that card in 2017” from time to time, this boom has expanded my mindset. Through this forum I have fell in love with Ex Reverse Holos. My new favorite thing is finding copies of amazing arts from that era to throw in a new binder. Fast forward, I have about 100+ cards in a binder that I absolutely adore and love to look at (more than my high-end slabs).
Am I still chasing some big cards? You bet, but I’ve learned how to enjoy the hobby on a smaller scale, as well. Some will quit, some will adapt. Rather adapt and still have fun with the hobby!
Spreadsheets, totals tracking, and budgets for investment as well as indulgence. THIS way I keep any bad habits in check, and also see how I’m doing for end-of-year totals and budget for the next. Specifically, I try to spend about $75 on indulgence for the month (which is hard to limit to, but it makes you value what you really have, and a few hundred + (I have the expendable income) on things that I wouldn’t mind selling if I had to. (Though within that, there is of course Sell what you can get more of, keep what you can’t.) Ever since my first major purchase, I quickly learned that I would not sell the things I was buying because of “I’d really like that”, so I decided to track my numbers, to keep myself honest. I can also show it to my financial guy so he knows I’m not crazy. lol. …I think.
The number of times I say to myself "I should have bought that card in 2012 (when I got my first half-decent job)… lol. I feel ya’ man. Just imagine being able to buy players promos for $10! Gold stars for $20! WotC boxes for $2K
I recently just started getting back into the hobby after years of ignoring anything Pokemon related. And literally just splurged out on collecting cards that I always wanted. I’d prob spent about a good 6k+ at this point. But now I’m REALLY going to sit back and evaluate going forward and control my spending. Thankfully I’m in a financial place where spending that amount a once didn’t set me back, but I don’t want to develop a nasty habit of just overpaying for a card that just has an inflated price right now.
Hopefully in 2022 we will see some type of normalcy in prices.
Financially nothing has changed for me. I only allocate a small portion of my income every month for this hobby. However, I have developed a lot more patience and focus for my goals, not to mention contentment in what I currently have. My ultimate collection goal is to collect all Japanese Promo cards as I reasonably can. I think starting out, I lacked focus on this goal and would spend money on cards that do not actively help me reach my goal.
As much as I am in awe and adore the modern alt-arts, I haven’t spent any money on them but instead focused on filling up my binders with promo cards. FOMO is real, and it is challenging not to give in, but it is something I have learnt to let go of.
I very much enjoy pack openings on YouTube for modern sets and interacting (mostly lurking) on forums and discords when people post their modern pulls.
Patience comes in handy when I have to make a significant purchase, I have to wait months before I have the resources available to get a high ticket item. When I have the resources, the card might not be there, but I have realized that there is always something else I can buy. Finally I have a sense of fulfillment when I look at my binders, as much as I enjoy the chase, I am proud of what I am able to collect on my budget.
I’ve taken up the practice of buying large lots of expensive items. I’ll then keep several items from the lot, then sell the rest to recover my expenses. I’ve done this with WOTC sealed booster packs to great length. As a result I’ve accrued a sizable sealed collection of WOTC era boosters and blisters, at virtually no cost to me.
